Flight School: Prey

Starting End

*

It was a night without a moon; or so Vijay had noticed upon arriving at the grounds. He had heard of the emergency evacuation—for what reason however, he was not aware but he and Nash were prompt in scarfing down their dinner and rushing to the sight of it all, the arrival hall.

The crowd, though thinly scattered across the tents that stood before the final gate, was loud in their chatter and generous in their words. Vijay and the myna joined several anxious—looking prey gathered by a fire in front of the medical marquee, hoping that they would provide some explanation to the chaos that was brewing.

"We don't know either," The girl's lips drew thin as she turned to Vijay. "It happened so quickly."

"The phoenix told us to run," A boy who Nash recognized as a magpie filled in hesitantly, eyes fixed on the gate. "It's the owl who made it with us. I'm not sure if they made it out."

"They? Can't you be a little more specific than that?" The myna snapped urgently and Shel responded by turning to him with a frown.

"You didn't participate, what gives you the right to order us around?" He didn't like his attitude. Rhea however, was all for peace and stability.

"The sparrow. The sparrow and the vulture; we..." We left them behind. The weight of her mistake began to sink into her chest and there was a horrible guilt that seized the creature within it. What had they done? Unconsciously, yes, but still—done.

"Io?" Vijay was afraid her had heard her words as they were.

No, he had to be wrong. Surely, it was some other sparrow; there were a lot of sparrows. A lot of them.

A murmur swept the crowd and students were drawn, all of a sudden, to the gate in which an ink-like darkness lay beyond. The prey looked towards the source of the sound.

It was the golden eagle. And not far behind, the black vulture—empty handed, nothing to lose but nothing lost either.

Rhea the hummingbird glanced around anxiously, wondering just why everything seemed to have the air of an end to it. They were taking off their charms, releasing the clasp of their chokers and handing it to a member of the council but where was he? Where was the sparrow?

If anything, this was the worst of all endings.

Rien was in the medical tent having collapsed from exhaustion and so was the canary who they had found just before the gate, the eagle nowhere in sight. The hummingbird thought she heard him curse his irresponsibility and leave everything, of course, to the older Nocturne who he took for granted. Half of them were having their wounds tended to and it was only Shel and herself who were well enough to wait anxiously for the sparrow's arrival. It was impossible; simply impossible that he would not return. The prospect was not one to be entertained or even comprehended.

"I must be mental," Shel said out of nowhere and three pairs of eyes turned to him in confusion. He was nudging the hummingbird with his elbow, scrambling to his feet and looking as though he had seen some sort of apparition.

He rubbed his eyes that were bloodshot and opened them once more.

It was still there.

"That thing," The magpie pointed at what seemed to be a brown sack floating in the air. "It's not a bag, is it?"

It was. And it was floating. Had it not been for the dull shine that reflected off the polished surface of Io's bow, Shel wouldn't have caught the canvas bag that was almost invisible to the naked eye—hovering in the middle of...nothing.